Agilent Technologies, Inc. today announced the availability of custom kits for its SureSelect XT target enrichment system that can capture up to 34 Mb of genomic regions of interest for next-generation sequencing (NGS).

This fivefold increase in coverage from previous custom kits enables researchers to expand the breadth of research beyond the human exome to sequence large regions of interest in animals, micro-organisms, plants, and other organisms where commercial predefined content or catalog target enrichment kits are not available.

Researchers can now begin their studies with large catalog captures or large custom captures up to 34 Mb and discover SNPs, insertions/deletions and copy number variations by casting a wide net. They can then design focused custom enrichment libraries for follow-up across many samples. Agilent provides eArray, the online target enrichment and microarray design tool, enabling customers to design and order SureSelect XT custom target enrichment kits in quantities ranging from 10 to 5,000 reactions, in formats for all major NGS platforms.

“The combination of Agilent’s custom long oligo manufacturing capabilities and eArray puts complete flexibility and customization of NGS target enrichment into researchers’ hands,” said Fred P. Ernani, Ph.D., Agilent director of marketing, SureSelect platform. “They can now come to Agilent for custom kits to capture regions of interest smaller than 200 Kb to more than 34 Mb, appropriate for just about any study size.”

SureSelect and eArray will continue to facilitate fast design iterations as more sequencing results become available. SureSelect XT users now have a full range of library design options – from ready-to-use catalog kits, to hybrid designs that mix catalog and custom content, to completely custom designs.

SureSelect XT products in DNA target enrichment and RNA target enrichment make it the most comprehensive platform for targeted next-generation sequencing. Continued development of custom kits has enabled captures of over 60 megabases for early access customers.

Target Enrichment Workflow

Target enrichment streamlines NGS workflows by letting researchers sequence just the genomic regions of interest rather than entire genomes. Combined with the speed of the leading next-generation sequencers, SureSelect XT’s multiplexing capabilities make it possible to interrogate genomic regions from more samples per study than previously possible. The bottleneck of library preparation and target enrichment can now be removed.

Further increasing throughput, Agilent offers an integrated workstation that automates SureSelect XT library preparation and target enrichment workflows. Samples can be indexed for multiplex sequencing, and all reagents are automation-compatible. Turnkey automation protocols for RNA capture will soon be added to available automation protocols on Agilent’s Bravo-based automated liquid-handling system.

The SureSelect target enrichment platform has now been cited in more than 50 peer-reviewed articles as a key enabler for genetic discovery. It was cited by Science Magazine in its Dec. 17 issue in connection with two of the Top 10 Breakthroughs of 2010: “Reading the Neandertal Genome” and “Homing In on Errant Genes.”